McGuire qualifies for Nationals

After a long season of Saturday competitions, challenging opponents, and new ideas, Sarah McGuire qualified for Nationals at the January 20th Northwest Indiana NSDA Debate Tournament.

The district tournament is an opportunity for the best and brightest debaters from each school to compete against other area high schoolers. While pre-district tournaments invite students from all across Northern Indiana, district tournaments are limited to local students. The district that LPHS is in consists of LaPorte High School, Valpo High School, Munster High School, and Penn High School, among others.

The highly-focused competition at the district tournament makes the tournament a fierce experience for competitors.

“I am really grateful for this opportunity. I didn’t really expect it at all. I’m really happy that I’ve had all these people with me, like all these varsity people that taught me everything,” McGuire said.

McGuire, a senior debater at LPHS, has been competing in Lincoln-Douglas, or LD, debate all four years of her high school career. LD is a style of debate in which one debater argues in favor of and one debater argues against a predetermined resolution. For McGuire, no other style of debate has ever been as worthwhile as LD.

“I think the thing that makes it the most fun for me is the combination of philosophy and evidence. It’s not just numbers, statistics; you actually have to think on a grander scale and support it,” McGuire said.

The first and second place competitors in each district are invited to the national tournament, which takes place in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, from June 17th through June 22nd. At the district competition, McGuire competed against five opponents, placing second at the tournament for her district and qualifying for Nationals.

“I did not expect to win at all; I was very shocked. My last round I went against one of my best friends, Ellie, and I definitely thought that she would have taken it.”

In this final round against a close friend, McGuire won. After four years of debating, McGuire is excited to see her efforts pay off.

“I’m really honored to be able to represent our district going down to Nationals,” McGuire said.